Dance Dance Revolution XReview

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Yup, Konami's still making these.

By Greg Miller

For ten years, Dance Dance Revolution has been a staple of arcades and homes alike. People love trying to stomp their feet on the DDR mat's arrows as the directional indicators scroll across the screen in time with the tunes, and Konami loves to pump out titles in this franchise.

Yesterday, I reviewed SingStar Pop Vol. 2 and faulted the title for feeling way too much like the original. I even linked to the original's review because there was no sense in me explaining the nuts and bolts of the same thing all over again. Why am I telling you this? I'm preparing you for a link to last year's Dance Dance Revolution SuperNOVA 2 review.

See, the majority of gameplay modes found in DDR X are the same that you probably saw in SuperNOVA 2. There's the standard pick a song and play option know as Game Mode, Workout Mode has you choose or create routines to loose weight, Training Mode allows you to practice specific parts of a song, and you can create you own dances in Edit.

Before you click back to my SuperNOVA 2 review to check out more nitty gritty details on those features, you should know that DDR X adds one mode while dropping two SuperNOVA 2 staples that were actually pretty cool.

Street Master Mode is kind of DDR X's story. Here you'll choose a character and go through about ten dances that are each bookended by text-based character conversations that introduce a problem -- Emi's nervous about a party, Rage is trying to make a living cooking takoyaki, etc. -- that can only be solved by dancing. You dance through the stages, finish the story with a still picture, and unlock another story to delve into. Fourteen characters are included in this mode. Street Master isn't good, but it isn't bad. It's just giving you context to dance in and allowing you to unlock stuff.

Sadly, Street Mode moves in to take the place of SuperNOVA 2's Hyper Master Mode, which has been ditched from the DDR formula. See, last year, Hyper Master Mode was this multi-tiered beast that you danced through, earned points, and battled bosses. When you left the mode, you could trade your points for items in the DDR store. Now, in X, both Hyper Master and the Store are gone.

Also gone is the ability to dance online. DDR X offers no online multiplayer, but does include Party Mode, which allows you to set up LAN parties for up to eight local players. The LAN function is probably going to appeal to the hardest of hardcore DDR fans, but stripping away the ability to play online is going to suck a lot of fun out of this game for the kid whose friends don't dig dancing.

Worse is the fact that that the game's announcer is back. True, he never went anywhere, but for DDR X, the guy that gives you encouragement and info brought his most annoying lines, voices, and attitude ever. "Is there an earthquake or something because this party's a-crackin'!" and "C'mon, homes, select your music!" will be phrases that I fear will never leave my head -- the echoing and grating will never be forgotten. If you get this game, turn off the announcer in the sound options.

She just wants to dance.

Other than the annoying dude, the audio's the usual mix of worldwide-pop, peppy American tracks, and everything else that makes DDR what it is. Smile.dk's "Butterfly" and "Switch" by Daisuke Asakura are alongside "Always on My Mind" by the Pet Shop Boys and MC Hammer's "U Can't Touch This." There are more than 70 songs on the disc, so there's going to be something for everyone to groove to, and some of the music videos are fun to watch -- although they aren't that sharp looking.

Visuals suffer overall in Dance Dance Revolution X. I liked watching the Pet Shop Boys video and some of the cool-colored videos, but there were more than a few times my eyes began to burn as I tried to watch arrows that were crawling over a background that's way too busy. When Emi got nervous about the upcoming party, Ruby suggested the duo dance in the Final Stage Airport (which isn't the story's final stage) to calm her fears. Apparently, the airport is a strawberry cake. As the ladies danced on the screen, I tried to match the arrows, but there's this Neapolitan ice cream wallpaper and pink color scheme that was making it difficult to focus.

It was just ugly, and that can be said for a lot of the game's blocky and drab visuals as well as its fuzzy videos.

The Verdict

Dance Dance Revolution X is lackluster game. If you're a DDR diehard, the new songs are sure to attract you to the product and the controls are as solid and pulse-pounding as ever, so I can see why you'd pick this up. However, DDR SuperNOVA 2 outdoes this title in every way and that's a game that's been on the market for close to a year.

Online play, Hyper Master Mode, and the joy of earning money for the store are gone; Dance Dance Revolution X is a step backward and a disappointment for fans.